The great adventure is over, and Andrew and I have returned home safely to Hong Kong. Our flight home began last night in Djibouti. We arrived at the airport a couple of hours before departure, which didn’t worry me as there was lots of action to see, including a never-ending sequence of military helicopters taking off to go on patrol somewhere or other, and a real highlight for me – watching one of the few remaining flying Ilyushin Il-18s in the world coming in to land on a flight from Somalia (see the photo of the four-engined propeller aircraft to the lower right).
We flew from Djibouti to Addis Ababa on a short 50 minute flight in an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 (see photo to the top right, taken at Djibouti Airport, plus the lower image showing Andrew boarding the plane). Upon arrival at Addis Ababa, we had a five hour transit stop, which allowed more than enough time to obtain our boarding passes and stock up on a few extra gifts for the family. At a little after midnight, we boarded our Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 767, which flew from Addis Ababa to Hong Kong via Bangkok (where there was a refuelling stop of one hour) on a very comfortable flight lasting 11 hours and 35 minutes. We had a perfect end to a great flight as we arrived on time into the late afternoon golden light of a clear and fine Hong Kong.
While at Addis Ababa airport, I bought a copy of “The Sign and the Seal” by Graham Hancock. The book is a detective-like investigation into the claim that the original Ark of the Covenant is now held in the northern Ethiopian town of Axum, in the small chapel that we visited on Day 6 of this trip. The book is a great read, and looks at several of the places we visited besides Axum – notably the rock-hewn churches in Lalibela, which it hypotheses were built with the aid of French Templars. Although I have not yet finished the book (although I did manage to read the first 237 pages on the flight), the sense of excitement generated in me by the text suggests that the book’s finely printed 600 pages will be finished before too much longer.
Whew! What a fantastic experience - one of the most rewarding but far from the easiest trips I have ever made. It didn’t always go according to plan, as shown when we had to leave Eritrea early, but that is probably to be expected when travelling in Africa.
Was it all worth it?
Yes - a thousand times over!!!
Would I do it again? Yes, of course I would – although I probably should clear some of those pieces of paper that have been accumulating on my office desk first :-)
